by The Professor » Mon Apr 25, 2016 7:04 am
Yesterday's
On this day in 2007 Arthur Milton died.
From a young age Milton showed an aptitude for many different sports and a restlessness that continued into adulthood.
Before even bothering with cricket Milton became a regular fixture playing for Arsenal, making his debut in 1951. Only a year later he had won the league title and played for England. Despite this impressive start he soon found himself being eased out of the team and was eventually transferred to Bristol City. After one season there he made the decision to transfer to cricket.
From a cricket perspective Milton worked up the ranks for Gloucestershire before breaking though into the first team.
He was selected to play for England for the first time (or second time) in 1958 and made his debut against New Zealand and scored a century on debut. He was also the first England player to remain on the playing field the whole of a Test match: he fielded throughout New Zealand's first innings, then opened the batting for England and ended undefeated, and fielded again through New Zealand's second innings, as England won by an innings and 71 runs. Wisden recognised him as one of the cricketers of the year, despite the fact that he was dropped for the last test.
Milton took part in two further tests but was never selected for England again.
On his return to Gloucestershire he played prolifically. He scored over 32,000 first-class runs at 33.66, passing 1,000 runs in 16 seasons. He played 1,017 innings for Gloucestershire, a record for the county. His best season was 1967 when, aged 39, he scored 2000 runs and scored 7 centuries.
After retirement he became a postman.
Milton was the last surviving person to have played cricket and football for England, a feat that will probably never happen again.
"It has been said of the unseen army of the dead, on their everlasting march, that when they are passing a rural cricket ground the Englishman falls out of the ranks for a moment to look over the gate and smile."